Farthing

Extremely Fine and very rare, only struck as a pattern.

In 1905 King Edward VII was on the throne, finally having taken over from his late mother, Queen Victoria. Arthur Balfour is Prime Minister and Chelsea has just been elected to the Football League. The GPO had just gotten rid of horse-drawn carriages to deliver the mail from London to Brighton and replaced them with Motor Lorries. The 1st public protest by a suffragette took place and Alf Common became the first £1000 football transfer. The Farthing was the smallest denomination regularly issued. You had the King’s bare head on one side and a seated Britannia on the other side. We can offer you the King Edward VII Farthing in Fine condition for your collection.

The 1955 Wren Farthing was the penultimate, or the next to last Farthing to ever be struck. In 1956 the last ever Farthing was struck. For some reason, this penultimate Farthing is rather difficult to find in Brilliant Uncirculated condition. You have the youthful bust of Queen Elizabeth II on one side, remember that she only came to the throne in 1952, and on the other side you have a beautiful little wren. The coins on offer are in Brilliant Uncirculated condition and are now some 63 years old. For those of you too young to remember, there were 240 Pennies to the Pound and 4 Farthings to the Penny. So that a pound’s worth of Farthings would have been 960 coins. Don’t we wish we had the money and had put them away at the time?

In 1953 the Royal Mint issued new coins for the new Queen, Elizabeth II. But the legend was different from all the coins that were to come, so that the 1953 coins and the Farthing in particular are one year type coins. This is important because there were only 4 dates of Elizabeth II Farthings ever issued, 1956 being the last date of issue. Because the 1953 Coronation Farthing is a one year type, it is also the most difficult one to get in Brilliant Uncirculated condition. We bought a group that had been put away in 1953, some 65 years ago and had lain undisturbed until now. Add a one year type, 1953 Coronation Farthing in Brilliant Uncirculated to your collection, they are not easy to get.

Elizabeth II, Farthing dated 1954 in Brilliant Uncirculated condition.

In 1956 the Royal Mint issued the last Farthing ever! I guess that it was too low of a denomination to be of any use. We have a nice small group of Brilliant Uncirculated 1956 Queen Elizabeth II Farthings. These are the last Farthing to ever be struck. The Mint didn’t make a lot of them and they are the most difficult date of Queen Elizabeth II to find. Get them while you can, remember there were 4 to a Penny and 960 to the pound. These are now 63 years old and in Brilliant Uncirculated condition.